4-Ship Formation of T-6 Texans
Dec, 2016Views
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Contest Finalist in Above The Earth Photo Contest
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Behind The Lens
Location
This image was shot in the skies above Ramona, CA out of KRNM. I was fortunate enough to have shot images for many of the formation clinics that were put on by Classic Fighters of America. This particular day they had a empty seat in one of the ships going up for some four ship formation training.Time
This particular session started around 2:00 pm and lasted about one hour. As the flight progressed, the lighting got much better.Lighting
Lighting was what it was and it varied greatly based on the formations heading. For this shot I had some great light coming in over my right shoulder and it really helped make these two brightly colored Texans really Pop!Equipment
These image were all shot with a Nikon D200 and a kit 18-105 lens with no filters. Neck strap and lens shade were the only extras. .Inspiration
The inspiration was the trill of a first chance bucket-list opportunity to shoot some air-to-air (a2a). Lets just say, they didn't need to ask me twice!Editing
This image had very little post processing. Virtually no cropping and a little sharpening. That 18-105 kit lens is amazingly sharp!In my camera bag
A single DSLR (D200 or D7200) with a 12-24 Tokina f4.0, 70-200 f2.8 or 80-400 AFS VR and often my trusty 18-105 kit lens.Feedback
I shot at shutter speeds from 1/320 to 1/500 to be certain that I was getting sharp images with a little allowed prop blur. The aircraft bounces around a lot and the maneuvers also make for some interesting bumps. Keep the lens off of the glass as that will transmit all the vibrations. This is like any other first opportunity where after you get done you realize that I could have gone down to 1/200 or slower to really get some better prop blur. An item I'll try is something to shoot draped over the lens to keep down the reflection off of the glass. The 18-105 lens provide a good focal length range as you really don't have an opportunity to switch lenses in this tight seating arrangement. This image was shot at 66mm, at the time the formation was 4 ships in staggered formation, and I was in the #2 ship so the lead was behind me over my right shoulder. Enjoy the opportunity and always remember to be the pilots second pair of eyes to spot other aircraft not in the formation.
